KELSEYVILLE, Calif. — Thousands of people came out to Kelseyville on Saturday to take part in the annual Pear Festival, which brings together friends, neighbors and visitors in a celebration of Lake County’s farming life.
The 29th annual event saw thousands of people packed into the downtown throughout Saturday, starting with the parade and lasting into the evening.
There were entertainers, classic cars and tractors, contests, the annual horse fair, and Mexican music and dancing horses behind the St. Peter’s Catholic Church.
And there was plenty of food. The highlight was everything pear — from pears in their whole form to all sorts of pear treats, from popovers and pies at the California Women for Agriculture booth to pear milkshakes, which made their return at Kelseyville Presbyterian Church after a four-year hiatus.
The festival once again gave a proper kickoff to fall in Lake County.
The weather was cool, overcast and comfortable, with steady rain falling later in the afternoon and evening, as much of the event was starting to wind down.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — What started out as an emergency search for a missing Lucerne man had a happy ending on Friday when authorities located him and his damaged vehicle not far from Highway 29 in northern Napa County.
Greg Restani, 74, was found at around 2 p.m. Friday.
Restani, who has dementia, had last been seen at around 3 p.m. Thursday driving his white 1999 two-door Honda Accord on Highway 29 in the area of Butts Canyon Road near Middletown.
His disappearance led to a Friday search by the Napa County Sheriff’s Office along Highway 29.
Family and friends reported early Friday afternoon that a California Highway Patrol plane spotted the Honda on the Old Lawley Toll Road, which splits off Highway 29 near the Calistoga Grade.
Restani’s vehicle was found crashed about a fourth of a mile off the highway.
A search and rescue team found Restani huddled in a barn.
Family members posted a picture of him safe and on the way home on Facebook a short time later.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
Ever since the Soviet Union launched Sputnik into orbit on Oct. 4, 1957, America has been struggling to recruit and retain STEM teachers in its public middle and high schools.
The situation has been getting progressively worse over the past decade or so. For instance, in the 2011-2012 school year, 19% of public schools were unable to fill a teaching position for biology or life sciences. By the 2020-2021 school year, that number had grown to 31%. The situation was similar for other subjects, going from 19% to 32% for mathematics, and 26% to 47% for physical sciences, such as physics, geology and engineering.
Science shortages were a problem even before Sputnik, but the launch served as a wake-up call. Three months afterward, President Dwight D. Eisenhower stated during his Special Message to the Congress on Education that federal action was necessary to educate more science and mathematics teachers.
We think endowed chairs have the potential to retain and attract more STEM educators at the K-12 level, but it requires a willingness to rethink the ways that schools employ STEM educators.
What’s behind the gap?
Two factors contribute to so many unfilled vacancies in STEM education:
1. There are fewer college students graduating with a bachelor’s degree in education that ever before.
Between 1959-1976, bachelor’s degrees in education were the most popular college major in the United States, and they accounted for about 20% of all degrees. Between 1975-2021, the percentage of students majoring in education fell from 17% to 4%.
2. STEM graduates can earn more money outside of education.
But this only tells a portion of the STEM teacher salary story. In 2021, K-12 teachers’ weekly salary was only $1,348 – about $660 less than the $2,009 earned weekly by other college graduates.
Prior efforts to close the gap
Since developing a strong STEM workforce is vital to the nation’s security and economic well-being, several U.S. presidents have used their position to advance a STEM education agenda.
For example, when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, Eisenhower and Congress came to realize that the nation needed to focus on what takes place in the classroom space – not just outer space.
Fifty-three years later, President Barack Obama utilized his 2011 State of the Union address to advance the national STEM agenda. “This is our generation’s Sputnik moment,” he said. “And over the next 10 years, with so many baby boomers retiring from our classrooms, we want to prepare 100,000 new teachers in the fields of science and technology and engineering and math.”
A shortage of STEM teachers remains. According to a survey of 53 states and territories, 39 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands had teacher vacancies in all subjects, STEM disciplines included, as of Feb 9, 2023. One additional reason for the current shortage is that public schools lost approximately 7% of their teachers – 233,000 instructors – between 2019-2021, which included STEM teachers.
Federal investments in programs and fellowships to produce more STEM teachers are good. But those alone will not be enough to retain and attract the quality STEM educators we need.
Traditionally, an endowed chair is a prestigious faculty position funded through annual spending from a university’s endowment fund.
The interest earned on the endowment will partially or fully fund the salary of the position for as long as the university exists. Endowed chairs are awarded to those who are the best in their field.
The benefit of an endowed chair is that it will be paid for decades to come by the interest on investment. In our paper, we suggest that K-12 schools could use endowed chairs to support a K-12 STEM teacher’s salary, benefits and professional development, all the while saving money for the district and state.
If structured right, the interest on the endowment will pay a teacher’s salary and benefits, something the district would subsequently not have to pay. The endowment can be used to purchase STEM supplies. The money saved by the district can be used to invest in another teacher. The money could come from private individuals, corporations or foundations.
An endowed chair could also provide funding for teachers and students to have access to state-of-the-art learning technology. As part of the endowed chair contract, a teacher can participate in a fully paid externship at a STEM-focused public or private sector company during the summer months. The goal would be to bring to the classroom the experiences and insights the teacher learned from the externship.
An endowed STEM chair salary may never outpace what educators could earn if they entered the private market. But it can potentially help elevate their position and, perhaps, enable educators to make a salary that would be higher than what it would otherwise be.
The death of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, announced on Friday, has elicited responses from across government, including Lake County’s representative in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-04) honored Feinstein, who died at age 90. She was the longest serving woman in the U.S. Senate.
“Sen. Dianne Feinstein was a legendary and iconic public servant and a champion for California and our nation. She put her heart and soul completely into serving her beloved San Francisco, California, and our nation, and we owe her a debt a gratitude for the incredible work that she has done throughout her career. Dianne broke many glass ceilings, from serving as the first female president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the first female mayor of San Francisco, to the first female senator from our state. She was a trailblazer in every meaning of the word,” Thompson said.
“Dianne earned and held the love and trust of both her constituents and her colleagues because of her tremendous work ethic, deep knowledge of issues, and her willingness to work across the aisle to get things done. She would study the issues to make sure she was making the most informed decision possible for her constituents. As chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Intelligence Committee, she tirelessly fought for our country, no matter how difficult the challenge or complex the issue.
“Dianne and I worked closely together on projects that have improved the lives of the people of in our state, particularly on the Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act that protected hundreds of thousands of acres and will ensure these pristine lands and opportunities for outdoor recreation will be enjoyed for generations to come. She was a champion for gun violence prevention issues and was a tireless advocate for keeping our communities safe. Her legacy will never be forgotten.
“Dianne Feinstein was an outstanding public servant, and her voice and advocacy will be sorely missed. Jan and I send our thoughts and prayers to her friends, family, and staff during this sad time,” Thompson said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom is now tasked with naming a successor to temporarily fill Feinstein’s seat until a special election can be held to fill the remainder of her term, which continues until January 2025.
NICE, Calif. — A home in Nice sustained serious damage in a Thursday evening fire.
Northshore Fire reported that the fire was first dispatched at 6:43 p.m.
Firefighters responded to the stick built home, in the 6700 block of Keeling Avenue, on the report of a room on fire.
Two people were at home at the time the fire broke out. There were no injuries.
Within 15 minutes firefighters had knocked down the blaze, which they kept from spreading to vegetation or other nearby homes and structures.
Although the fire was contained to the room of origin, there was extensive smoke damage. Officials estimated that 50% of the home sustained damage.
Resources responding to the scene from Northshore Fire and Cal Fire included a total of five engines, one water tender, one medic unit, the Northshore Support Team, and two overhead of command staff.
The cause of the fire was not reported.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
What's up for October? Some great Moon-and-planet pairings, a mission to a metal-rich world, and a partial eclipse of the Sun.
On Oct. 2, the Moon rises a couple of hours after sunset, appearing super close to the Pleiades star cluster. Look for them low in the east after around 10 p.m.
They travel across the sky together that night, leaving another opportunity to see them the following morning. In the predawn sky on Oct. 3, the Moon appears a couple of finger widths apart from the Pleiades, having moved a bit in its orbit around Earth during the night. Look for them high in the southwest, flanked by Jupiter and the bright, red giant star Aldebaran in Taurus.
On Oct. 10, look for Venus in the east before sunrise, accompanied by a slim crescent Moon. And in between them, the bright heart of Leo the lion, bluiush-white star Regulus.
On Oct. 23, look toward the south an hour or two after sunset to find the Moon, about 70% illuminated, hanging just beneath the planet Saturn. Their close proximity in the sky will make for some easy telescope viewing of these two skywatching favorites. The following evening, the Moon will still be nearby, having moved to the east of Saturn.
The full moon on Oct. 28 rises together with planet Jupiter. These are two of the brightest objects in the sky, and seeing them so close should make for quite an impressive sight.
When you gaze up at Venus, Mars, Mercury (or even down at Earth beneath your feet), do you ever wonder how these planets formed out of stardust? That's how planetary scientists think, too. And this month, NASA's launching a spacecraft to seek new insights into how the "terrestrial" planets developed. NASA's Psyche spacecraft is planned to launch in October on its multi-year journey to an asteroid of the same name. It's the first mission to a metal-rich asteroid, which could be part of the interior of a planetesimal – a building block of a rocky planet.
Asteroid Psyche could also turn out to be a different kind of iron-rich object that's not been seen before. Whatever its story turns out to be, it's hoped the mission might show us how Earth’s core and the cores of the other terrestrial planets came to be.
On Oct. 14, skywatchers in the Americas will have an opportunity to see a special type of solar eclipse called an annular eclipse. Along a path about 125 miles wide, the Sun will appear as a narrow ring of light, which is often called a "ring of fire." This narrow circle shape is also known as an annulus, giving this type of eclipse its name.
Solar eclipses happen when the Moon comes between Earth and the Sun, and covers at least part of the Sun in the sky. When the Moon covers the Sun completely, we get to observe a total eclipse. But sometimes the Moon is a bit farther away in its orbit when an eclipse happens, making it look a little smaller in the sky, and just a bit too small to completely cover the Sun. When that happens, it enables us to see an annular eclipse.
The path of this partial eclipse sweeps across the Americas, beginning in Southern Canada and crossing the Western U.S., before moving across Central and South America. Outside the annular eclipse path, those within the viewing zone will still see a partial eclipse. The maximum amount of the Sun that will be covered by the Moon depends on your location.
Now, eclipse fans won't have to wait long for more excitement. Next April, a total solar eclipse will sweep across the U.S. Check out NASA's eclipse resources online for info about both eclipses, where they'll be visible, and tips for safe viewing.
Stay up to date with all of NASA's missions to explore the solar system and beyond at nasa.gov.
Preston Dyches works for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Over the last decade, smartphones have become ubiquitous not just for sending texts and staying abreast of news, but also for monitoring daily activity levels.
Among the most common, and arguably the most meaningful, tracking method for daily physical activity is step counting.
Counting steps is far more than a fad: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services dedicated a sizable portion of its most recent physical activity guidelines to documenting the relationship between daily step counts and several chronic diseases.
Unfortunately, the guidelines have little to say about how step counts might be used to aid in weight management, an outcome of critical importance given the high rates of overweight and obesity in the U.S.
While the evidence is clear that increasing numbers of adults are living in a chronic energy surplus that leads to weight gain, a key question is – why? What has changed so dramatically since 1980 that could explain why obesity rates have tripled?
Although the American diet is likely a key contributor, a wealth of research points to a reduction in physical activity as a major culprit behind the expanding waist lines – and step counts are an excellent indicator of physical activity.
Step counts may – or may not – lead to weight loss
A number of recent studies have looked at whether increasing step counts can lead to weight loss over a certain period of time. One large-scale study called a meta-analysis concluded that increasing physical activity by way of step counts was effective for attaining modest weight loss. However, many if not most studies examining the effect of exercise on weight loss report modest outcomes, with results that are variable and often disappointing.
That may be in part because the step count targets used in many weight management studies are most often set in an arbitrary manner, such as targeting 10,000 steps per day. Or, if they’re individualized at all, they’re based on initial behavioral characteristics, like adding a given number of steps to what a person is already accumulating in a typical day. Rarely, if ever, are the step targets in research studies based on any physical attributes of the participants.
My team’s research has compiled weight, body fat percentages and average step counts for large numbers of adults between 19 and 40 years of age. From that data, we have identified a way to determine specific step count goals based on key physical attributes – namely, baseline body weight and composition, and the desired body composition.
When it comes to health, it is important to remember that body weight does not tell the whole story. In fact, body composition is much more predictive of health status than body weight. Someone who weighs more than another person may be in better health if they have more muscle mass and a lower percentage of body fat than the other person who weighs less but has a higher proportion of body fat.
Parsing the numbers
We have used our data to develop a model that predicts average daily step counts per unit of fat mass from body fat percentage. We believe that this model can be used to determine how much people would need to walk to achieve a specific amount of weight and body fat reduction.
Take, for instance, a man who weighs 175 pounds (80 kilograms), of which 25% is fat. Our model suggests that he walks an average of 10,900 steps a day. Then consider another man who weighs 220 pounds (100 kilograms), of which 20% is fat. Although they have different amounts of lean mass, both men have about 44 pounds (20 kilograms) of fat. So our model predicts that the heavier man walks an average of 15,300 steps a day. In other words, the heavier person has a lower percentage of body fat and walks more to maintain that leaner body composition.
A person’s body fat percentage is every bit as important as their weight. That’s because how much muscle you have affects how hungry you get, as well as how many calories you burn. Muscle mass requires energy to maintain, and this requirement leads to increased appetite, which means taking in more calories. In this example, the heavier man probably eats more than the lighter man in order to maintain his lean muscle mass, and he must walk more to maintain his lower body fat percentage.
If you want to lose body fat, and therefore weight, you basically have two choices: You can eat less, or you can move more. Eating less means you’ll be hungry a lot, and that’s uncomfortable, unpleasant and, for most people, not sustainable. Moving more, on the other hand, can allow you to eat until you’re full and keep body fat off – or even lose it.
Therefore, we wanted to know how much a person who eats until they’re full might have to move to offset the calories they’re eating.
Step counts for weight loss
Currently, our model applies to young adults, but we are now collecting data for middle-aged and older adults too. To use this model, you need to first have your body composition determined, a service that is being offered by increasing numbers of fitness centers and medical practices. With our model, you must determine your body weight and fat weight in kilograms – to do this, simply divide your weight in pounds by 2.2.
With this information in hand, our model can provide a step count target that is specific to a person’s current body weight and body fat percentage, and their goal for fat loss and weight reduction.
For example, our model predicts that a woman weighing 155 pounds (70 kilograms) with 30% body fat currently accumulates an average of about 8,700 steps per day. If she wants to lose about 10 pounds and reach a body fat percentage around 25%, she could consult the model and discover that people who maintain that body composition accumulate an average of about 545 steps per kilogram of fat per day. Since she currently has about 46 pounds (21 kilograms) of fat, her goal would be to accumulate a total of 11,450 steps per day.
While that may seem at first glance to be a sizable increase in daily steps, most people can accumulate 1,000 steps in 10 minutes or less. So even with a comfortable pace, this additional daily dose of walking would take fewer than 30 minutes. Furthermore, steps can be accumulated throughout the day, with longer or more frequent trips, or both, to restrooms, vending machines and the like.
While steps certainly can be accumulated in dedicated walking sessions, such as a 15-minute walk during lunch hour and another 15-minute walk in the evening, they can also be accumulated in shorter, more frequent bouts of activity.
Researchers have learned a great deal in the past 70 years about appetite and energy expenditure: Appetite imposes a drive for food based largely on our fat-free mass, no matter how active or inactive we are, and we must accumulate enough physical activity to counter the calories that we take in through our diet if we want to maintain an energy balance – or exceed our intake to lose weight.
LOWER LAKE, Calif. — After seven years of planning and work, a new upscale camping experience is open and welcoming visitors to Lake County.
Huttopia Wine Country, located at 13444 Spruce Grove Road in Lower Lake, is the newest hospitality offering in Lake County.
It’s located at Six Sigma Ranch and Winery, owned by Kaj and Elise Ahlmann and their family, but run by Huttopia, a company based in France with locations worldwide.
Six Sigma, tucked into the oak woodlands between Lower Lake and Middletown, can feel like a world apart, with its rolling hills and valleys, and unique microclimates.
Now, the 4,300-acre property, home to winegrapes and cattle, is also now dotted with new tents that are part of Huttopia's particular style of camping.
These aren’t the tents of old, but modern creations, with names like “Trappeur Pacific,” “Trappeur Pacific” and “Canadienne Pacific” that recall the history of French trappers in the American West.
The tents are specially fabricated in France to quality specifications and then brought to the site for setup “like Legos,” Kaj Ahlmann said.
Ranging in size from 350 to 425 square feet, they can house two to five people, with full-sized beds and, in some units, additional bunk beds, plus a sitting area with a ceiling fan, kitchenette, and a deck with a barbecue.
They are self-contained, featuring rooftop solar panels that run lighting and, in some of the tents, refrigeration units.
Some of the tents also feature their bathrooms, and so have accompanying septic tanks. Other tents share communal bathrooms.
“It fits the ranch so well,” said Ahlmann.
Huttopia Wine Country features 63 upscale tents; a main lodge situated on a hilltop with events, games and food; hiking and biking trails; bikes for rent; a brand new large swimming pool and playground; and a bistro with a pizza oven. It’s a pet-friendly facility with access to all of the winery’s existing amenities.
It also includes plenty of Six Sigma’s cows, some of whom like to wander through the campsites, grazing on the knee-high wild grasses. Some have been known to mosey in to join the move night held in a field near the main lodge.
Seven years of effort
Ahlmann said bringing Huttopia to Lake County was an effort seven years in the making.
Now, “All of a sudden, it’s standing here — right in front of me,” he said to a group of community leaders and visitors who came for a Friday grand opening reception at the main lodge, a brand new structure with an American West feel.
On hand for the reception were Philippe and Celine Bossanne, who founded Huttopia in 1999, setting up their first camping facility focusing on families in the Alps. Later, they came to North America, first opening camps in Canada.
When they came to the United States, their first camping facility was at Paradise Springs in Los Angeles County.
Today, they have 1,800 employees across 104 camps in nine countries. The newest country to join the Huttopia fold is Sweden, where a new camp has been set up in the north of the country.
Six Sigma is the second Huttopia site in California. Philippe Bossanne said they think California loves their way of camping.
As a result, Bossanne said a third site is in the works on Catalina Island.
District 1 Supervisor Moke Simon, who Ahlmann credited for his support of the project, attended the reception, taking time to come and offer his support before heading off to fulfill his coaching obligations at a high school football game.
“I love visionaries,” said Simon. “I love people who follow through with a dream.”
He recalled first hearing about the idea and, hearkening to his tribal heritage, likened the project to taking a piece of obsidian and turning it into a spearhead to provide for one’s family.
Simon said it’s necessary to embrace and understand new ideas, and he thanked Ahlmann, whose stewardship of the land he also lauded.
“Lake County is the most beautiful place in California and you couldn’t tell me any different,” Simon said.
He added, “Lake County is putting a stake in the ground and staying, ‘We’re here, come and see us.’”
He said he’s looking forward to bringing his two grandchildren for a stay at the camp.
Asked how he thinks they’ll like the pool, he said, “They’ll love it.”
Making a change
In 1999, the same year that the Bossannes started their glamping adventure, Ahlmann — a Danish native who came to the United States with his family — began his own search.
He had built a respected career in the quality management industry and rose to the top of the corporate leadership of General Electric’s Reinsurance division. However, he decided he wanted to make a change, one that would ultimately lead him to apply Six Sigma quality principles to winemaking.
Ahlmann said he began looking for land in Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino counties, but didn’t find what he wanted.
Then a real estate agent called him and asked if he would like to see a ranch in Lake County. He said, sure, but he didn’t know where Lake County was.
Ahlmann came to see the property, and there he met the owner — Russell Rustici, a bachelor rancher who had owned the property for 33 years.
Rustici took him for a three-hour tour of the land before asking if he would like to take it. Ahlmann said he needed to know if wife Elise would approve; when imaging a piece of land, she had been thinking more like 10 acres, not 4,300 acres.
Elise Ahlmann clearly approved, because they purchased the land. Rustici moved to Clearlake but, according to a story on the Six Sigma website, he kept a few cattle on the ranch so he could remain chairman of the Cattlemen’s Association.
Rustici, who died in 2008 at age 84, also was a philanthropist. His legacy includes donations to the University of California that established a scholarship program, a rangeland and cattle research and outreach support program, and three perpetually funded rangeland faculty positions.
Closer to home, he donated $300,000 to Carle Continuation High School. Today, the county park at 16375 Second St. in Lower Lake is named in his honor.
Finding a special place
Like Ahlmann’s search years before, about seven years ago the Bossannes were on the lookout for a special place in California for another glamping site. They sent one of their staffers to find that location, and he came to Lake County. When he came across Six Sigma, it was exactly what they wanted.
Within three weeks, the Bossannes had come to meet the Ahlmanns to begin discussing plans. “Working with Huttopia is a special experience,” Kaj Ahlmann said.
Philippe Bossanne said they want to set up in beautiful, natural places. When they found Six Sigma, he said, it was, “like, wow!”
Even with the COVID-19 pandemic landing in the middle of the work, and the heavy rain and snow earlier this year, the project moved forward.
Bossanne also spoke of the partnership with Six Sigma, which is unlike the company’s efforts elsewhere.
“This is an adventure,” Bossanne said.
Both the Ahlmanns and Bossannes have businesses in which family is important.
At Six Sigma’s camp, Huttopia has appointed the husband and wife team of Fabrice and Emmanuelle Masson to manage the site.
The French natives joined the company in 2018, working first at sites in France and, more recently, at East Coast locations in Maine, New Hampshire and New York.
Emmanuelle Masson said they were looking forward to coming to California. “We were waiting for this one,” she said of Huttopia Wine Country.
Masson said she and her husband are enjoying the friendly atmosphere of Lake County and looking forward to exploring it more in the months ahead.
Hospitality is an important part of Huttopia, and the Massons exemplify that. On Friday evening, they were busy serving at the reception, taking people on golf cart tours of the property and stopping in to check on campers.
As the evening drew on, and more visitors showed up for a camping weekend — some with children in tow, some with dogs, some with both — Emmanuelle Masson was busy loading suitcases into her golf cart to help people to their campsites, as cars are not allowed to drive into the clusters of tents.
While the opening reception was Friday afternoon, Huttopia opened on June 30. Masson said they have received very good feedback from visitors in these first three months of operation.
Huttopia will remain open for another month before it closes for the winter, she said.
Ahlmann said that, over the winter, they plan to give staff a break.
While Huttopia is on its winter break, the next phase of construction will take place.
Additions will include a conference tent that will seat up to 52 people. It’s being manufactured in South Africa by a company that makes such tents for safaris, Ahlmann said.
He said there also will be another 40 or so tent units constructed for visitors which will open up next year.
On a tour of the property, Masson pointed out the area where the next phase of tents will go, across the winery’s interior road from the current tent sites.
Ahlmann said Six Sigma’s contract calls for a full capacity of 150 tent units.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
Since ChatGPT’s release in late 2022, many news outlets have reported on the ethical threats posed by artificial intelligence. Tech pundits have issued warnings of killer robots bent on human extinction, while the World Economic Forum predicted that machines will take away jobs.
There is a better way to bring artificial intelligence into workplaces. I know, because I’ve seen it, as a sociologist who works with NASA’s robotic spacecraft teams.
The scientists and engineers I study are busy exploring the surface of Mars with the help of AI-equipped rovers. But their job is no science fiction fantasy. It’s an example of the power of weaving machine and human intelligence together, in service of a common goal.
Instead of replacing humans, these robots partner with us to extend and complement human qualities. Along the way, they avoid common ethical pitfalls and chart a humane path for working with AI.
The replacement myth in AI
Stories of killer robots and job losses illustrate how a “replacement myth” dominates the way people think about AI. In this view, humans can and will be replaced by automated machines.
Empirical evidence shows that automation does not cut costs. Instead, it increases inequality by cutting out low-status workers and increasing the salary cost for high-status workers who remain. Meanwhile, today’s productivity tools inspire employees to work more for their employers, not less.
Alternatives to straight-out replacement are “mixed autonomy” systems, where people and robots work together. For example, self-driving cars must be programmed to operate in traffic alongside human drivers. Autonomy is “mixed” because both humans and robots operate in the same system, and their actions influence each other.
However, mixed autonomy is often seen as a step along the way to replacement. And it can lead to systems where humans merely feed, curate or teach AI tools. This saddles humans with “ghost work” – mindless, piecemeal tasks that programmers hope machine learning will soon render obsolete.
But my research with robotic spacecraft teams at NASA shows that when companies reject the replacement myth and opt for building human-robot teams instead, many of the ethical issues with AI vanish.
Teamwork also means leveraging the combined strengths of both robotic and human senses or intelligences. After all, there are many capabilities that robots have that humans do not – and vice versa.
For instance, human eyes on Mars can only see dimly lit, dusty red terrain stretching to the horizon. So engineers outfit Mars rovers with camera filters to “see” wavelengths of light that humans can’t see in the infrared, returning pictures in brilliant false colors.
Meanwhile, the rovers’ onboard AI cannot generate scientific findings. It is only by combining colorful sensor results with expert discussion that scientists can use these robotic eyes to uncover new truths about Mars.
Respectful data
Another ethical challenge to AI is how data is harvested and used. Generative AI is trained on artists’ and writers’ work without their consent, commercial datasets are rife with bias, and ChatGPT “hallucinates” answers to questions.
Robots on Mars also rely on data, processing power and machine learning techniques to do their jobs. But the data they need is visual and distance information to generate driveable pathways or suggest cool new images.
I saw NASA engineers break down in anxious tears when the rovers Spirit and Opportunity were threatened by Martian dust storms.
Unlike anthropomorphism – projecting human characteristics onto a machine – this feeling is born from a sense of care for the machine. It is developed through daily interactions, mutual accomplishments and shared responsibility.
When machines inspire a sense of care, they can underline – not undermine – the qualities that make people human.
A better AI is possible
In industries where AI could be used to replace workers, technology experts might consider how clever human-machine partnerships could enhance human capabilities instead of detracting from them.
Script-writing teams may appreciate an artificial agent that can look up dialog or cross-reference on the fly. Artists could write or curate their own algorithms to fuel creativity and retain credit for their work. Bots to support software teams might improve meeting communication and find errors that emerge from compiling code.
Of course, rejecting replacement does not eliminate all ethical concerns with AI. But many problems associated with human livelihood, agency and bias shift when replacement is no longer the goal.
The replacement fantasy is just one of many possible futures for AI and society. After all, no one would watch “Star Wars” if the ‘droids replaced all the protagonists. For a more ethical vision of humans’ future with AI, you can look to the human-machine teams that are already alive and well, in space and on Earth.
Radios crackle with chatter from a wildfire incident command post. Up the fireline, firefighters in yellow jerseys are swinging Pulaskis, axlike hand tools, to carve a fuel break into the land.
By 10 a.m., these firefighters have already hiked 3 miles up steep, uneven terrain and built nearly 1,200 feet of fireline.
It’s physically exhausting work and essential for protecting communities as wildfire risks rise in a warming world. Hotshot crews like this one, the U.S. Forest Service’s Lolo Hotshots, are the elite workforce of the forests. When they’re on the fireline, their bodies’ total daily energy demands can rival that of the cyclists in the Tour de France, as my team’s research with wildland fire crews shows.
These firefighters are also caught in Congress’ latest budget battle, where demands by far-right House members to slash federal spending could lead to a governmentwide shutdown after the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, 2023.
After extreme fire seasons in 2020 and 2021, Congress funded a temporary bonus that boosted average U.S. Forest Service wildland firefighter pay by either 50% or US$20,000, whichever was lower. But that increase expires after Sept. 30, knocking many federal firefighters back to earning the minimum $15 per hour.
Life on the fireline is demanding. Pack straps dig into the neck and shoulders with each swing of the Pulaski. It’s a constant reminder that everything wildland firefighters need, they carry – all day.
The critical water and food items, supplies, extra gear and fireline tools – Pulaskis, chain saws and fuel – add up to an average gear weight often exceeding 50 pounds.
Hiking with a load and digging firelines with hand tools burns about 6 to 14 calories per minute. Heart rates rise in response to an increased pace of digging.
This isn’t just for a few days. Fire season in the western United States can last five months or more, with most Hotshot crews accumulating four to five times the number of operational days of the 22-day Tour de France and over 1,000 hours of overtime.
The physical demand of a day on the fireline
My team has been measuring the physical strain and total energy demands of work on an active wildfire, with the goal of finding ways to improve firefighter fueling strategies and health and safety on the line.
The crew members we work with are outfitted with a series of lightweight monitors that measure heart rate, as well as movement patterns and speed, using GPS. Each participant swallows a temperature-tracking sensor before breakfast that will record core body temperature each minute throughout the work shift.
As the work shift progresses, the Hotshots constantly monitor their surroundings and self-regulate their nutrient and fluid intake, knowing their shift could last 12 to 16 hours.
During intense activity in high heat, their fluid intake can increase to 32 ounces per hour or more.
My team’s research has found that the most effective way for wildland firefighters to stay fueled is to eat small meals frequently throughout the work shift, similar to the patterns perfected by riders in the Tour. This preserves cognitive health, helping firefighters stay focused and sharp for making potentially lifesaving decisions and keenly aware of their ever-dynamic surroundings, and boosts their work performance. It also helps slow the depletion of important muscle fuel.
Although crews gradually acclimatize to the heat over the season, the risk for heat exhaustion is ever present if the work rate is not kept in check. This cannot be prevented by simply drinking more water during long work shifts. However, regular breaks and having a strong aerobic capacity provides some protection by reducing heat stress and overall risk.
The season takes a toll
Hotshots are physically fit, and they train for the fire season just as many athletes train for their competition season. Most crew members are hired temporarily during the fire season – typically from May to October, but that’s expanding as the planet warms. And there are distinct fitness requirements for the job. The physical preparations are demanding, take months and are expected, even when temporary crew members are not officially employed by the agencies.
Progressive intervention strategies can help, such as educational programs on specific physical training and nutritional needs, mindfulness training to reduce the risk of job-oriented anxiety and depression, and emotional support for crew members and families. However, these require agency and congressional investment, a commitment beyond ensuring pay raises remain intact. Removing either is synonymous with taking away critical tools for the job on the firelines.
Developing offseason practices that pay close attention to both physical and mental health recovery can help limit harm to firefighters’ health. Many Hotshots have bounced back and returned season after season. However, a government shutdown and failure to act on pay with no thought to the health and safety of front-line fire crews could worsen crew retention in an already dwindling workforce.
This is an update to an article originally published Aug. 8, 2023.